


Starting Over

by Bemused_Writer



Series: Blackwell Redux [1]
Category: Blackwell Series (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 00:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18041972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bemused_Writer/pseuds/Bemused_Writer
Summary: If the events of Epiphany had taken a different turn what would have happened next? It turns out Joey and Rosangela have very different ideas of what their next order of business ought to be.





	Starting Over

“It’s been ages since I’ve seen a movie!”

It was like hearing someone else speaking with her voice; she was barely keeping it together. The universe was pounding in her skull but Joey was still there looking at her with worried fondness. She wondered when they had gotten close enough that they didn’t even need to say anything to understand what the other couldn’t directly convey. But Rosangela didn’t have time to marvel over it; she only had a few precious minutes to figure out what she intended to do. The roar in her mind was indescribable, both beautiful and terrible, a chaotic whirl of sound that masked some meaning she was only beginning to truly understand.

But behind all of that there was one singular thought that was forcing her to keep on going: she had to help Joey. The only question was how? There weren’t that many options and time was running out. But she couldn’t let Joey become like Madeline.

The desire to save him repeated itself like a mantra until the universe poured the answer into her mind: She could give him life, the life that had been so cruelly taken.

“I’ll be a good spirit guide.”

“No, you won’t.”

As soon as she said it she regretted it; Joey looked heartbroken with a pained twist plastering itself across his face and she wondered briefly, _Is this the right thing to do?_

That moment’s hesitation stopped her in her tracks. Time slowed down to a trickle. The world shifted. He was shouting something. He was stricken, eyes wide.

 _I never want him to look like that ever again,_ she thought. All other thoughts ceased as the knowledge of the universe shone behind her eyes with a searing agony far worse than before and provided her with the only other possible solution.

* * *

For some time, Rosangela couldn’t have said how long, there was nothing but calming darkness. It was probably the most tranquil she’d felt in ages. It wasn’t to last however. Soon a nagging doubt began to fill her. Something wasn’t right. At last she was able to form one coherent thought:  _It’s so quiet_. Followed by, _And cold_. And then, _What happened?_

There was something beneath her, something scratchy and freezing to the touch. Rosangela did her best to focus on that but found she couldn’t quite manage it. The next thing she noticed was how frigid the air was as well. Hadn’t she turned the heater on? She never forgot to do so before going to bed in the winter months. Surely it wasn’t broken again? But no, the air was too crisp. A window was open?

“Joey,” she said or tried to say as it came out as a garbled slur. That was strange.

She thought she felt a gentle waft of air settle over her face, a telltale sign of her resident spirit guide.

“Red?” There was something wrong with his voice. It was strangely distant and it had a tremble to it she wasn’t used to hearing. Rosangela tried to place what the cause might be but the attempt caused a spike of pain to shoot through her skull. She moaned in agony and raised shaky palms to rub her temples.

“Oh, God, Red!”

“What is it?” she forced out. It came out as a meager rasp.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! I thought you were dead! You’ve been lying there for half an hour easily!”

She wanted to reply with a sarcastic “Most people sleep longer than that, Joey,” but instead she was seized by a hacking cough that wouldn’t relent.

“Look, no one has noticed you yet. Can you move? You can’t just lie here and get buried underneath a pile of snow!”

Snow? That would certainly explain that strange tingly feeling that kept hitting her face. She forced her eyes open. Hovering over her was Joey just like she’d thought. He looked terrified. Above him was not the ceiling of her room, however. Open sky expanded before her along with what appeared to be the looming architecture of a church.

“Outside?” she managed.

“Yes, Red. You’re outside. You’ve been outside for a very long time and a hospital would be a fantastic idea right now, much as I hate to admit it.”

“No.” She slowly began to lift herself into a sitting position. The world spun around her and for a split second she thought she might just faint or throw up. Possibly both.

Joey moved away obligingly though not by much.

“No hospitals. Not now,” she reiterated.

“And how, exactly, do you plan on getting home?”

 “I can walk.”

“You can barely stand! You’ve been lying on the cold sidewalk for who knows how long and now you’re just going to walk all the way home as if nothing happened?” he exclaimed.

For a second she tried to remember what had happened. But she could feel that horrible pain building in her head again and let the thought slip away for the time being.

“Yes.” A pause. “Why are you speaking so quietly?”

Joey gave her a strange look. “I wouldn’t describe myself as having been particularly quiet lately, Red. I’ve been shouting my lungs out all this time.”

“You sound,” she waved her hand as though that explained everything. She carefully began to move into a crouch and tested how she felt in that position. She allowed the world to settle around her a bit more before slowly rising to a stand.

“Right, well, you’re probably in shock. For crying out loud, just go to a hospital.”

“No!” She spun around and nearly fell over with the force of it. “Just, no. I’m sorry.” She wasn’t even sure what she was apologizing for but the look of hurt and fear in Joey’s eyes was beginning to make her feel guilty and she couldn’t even piece together why she was outside or why he was so quiet or why he was so blurry! But what she did know was that Joey hated hospitals and right now the thought of going to one was making her feel nauseous.

“My glasses,” she brought her hands to her face.

“They’re right on your face.”

“I can’t see you well.”

He sighed. “Let’s just sort it all out later. God, you probably have a concussion…..”

She decided to ignore that for now but part of her wondered if he might be right. Instead she focused on slowly putting one foot in front of the other. She vaguely noticed that Joey was floating so close to her he was nearly going through her. She appreciated the silent support although if she were to fall over there really wasn’t much either one of them could do about it.

It felt like the longest trudge of her life. The streets were surprisingly quiet and only a few individuals passed her by. They paid her no mind, which was hardly unusual in the city. She was glad; she wasn’t up to any conversation and she had a feeling she would be assaulted by an avalanche of it as soon as she got home.

“Here we are,” Joey finally said. She looked up slowly. Home.

Never before had the elevator felt like such a luxury. She allowed herself to lean against the side of it. As it went up she felt the vibrations of it flow through her. It was relaxing and she was nearly lulled to sleep.

“Come on, dear. This is our floor,” Joey said quietly.

She nodded slowly and heaved herself away from what had become a relatively comfortable corner. At long last she was in her apartment. The quiet familiarity of it was shocking. She slowly pulled off her coat and let it drop to the floor without preamble. Then she collapsed on the couch. She briefly wondered just what she and Joey had been doing to leave her marveling at how comfortable and safe the old thing suddenly felt.

“I’m so tired, Joey,” she murmured softly.

“I don’t blame you, kid. You really took one for the team.”

She nodded as if this answered something and fell asleep moments later.

* * *

Joey sighed softly. At least she’d remembered to lock the door behind her.

He took the opportunity to study her face. Now that he knew she was alive and that she was relatively safe indoors away from the wintry environment he could clearly see how drained she was. Her glasses were askew and there were dark rings under her eyes. She was still shivering. He floated over to the heater and eyed the device carefully. Modern technology wasn’t one of his strong suits and he was usually more than happy to let Rosangela figure out all the technobabble but for now he had no choice.

Thankfully this device was one he had seen her use before, which simplified the matter greatly. Heaving a deep breath he focused on the one that indicated it would make the room warmer. Satisfied that that should help things a bit he floated back over to her and resumed his study.

He’d never looked all that closely at her before. Oh, he knew what she looked like (red hair, awkward demeanor) but that wasn’t the same as really taking in her appearance.  Tonight he’d seen just how incredible she was and he was forced to wonder about his own role in everything that was happening around them. He steadfastly ignored how, despite every other soul getting to move on, he couldn’t. He had made a promise. He would be a good spirit guide for as long as it took.

He moved a bit closer. If he’d still been alive he probably would have sat by the couch but things being as they were he floated beside her instead, content to play sentry for the night.

* * *

She was warm. It felt exquisite. She opened her eyes carefully. Sunlight was filtering in through the window in the kitchen. She must have forgotten to close the blinds last night. As her vision slowly refocused she noticed Joey at her side.

He was looking down at her intently. There was a searching look to his gaze that she’d never seen before. She felt a stab of fear--had she failed? Why was he still here? This was followed by deep confusion. What could she have failed at and why wouldn’t Joey still be there? And why was some small part of her comforted to see him?

In an attempt to ground herself she focused on what he was doing and the familiar irritation it brought.

 “Joey, just what are you doing in my room?”

“Good morning, darling.” He beamed at her. His expression seemed … relieved? “It’s good to have you back among the living. And the sane. But I’ll have you know I am nowhere near your room.” He floated aside so she could get a better view.

She blinked in surprise. Joey was being completely honest. In front of her was the familiar television set, lava lamp, and small selection of books. In other words, she was asleep in her living room.

“Okay… What am I doing out here, then?”

“You don’t … remember anything?”

She frowned at him as she sat up. That sounded a little too much like when he would try to delicately pry information out of an unaware ghost.

“No, not really…. I think I remember a hospital? And … I was in the Nexus at some point. I think I dreamed about Auntie.”

There was that familiar pressure building in her head.

“And my head hurts like crazy anytime I try to think about it.” She rested a palm against her forehead missing the concerned look Joey shot at her.

“Your head still hurts?”

“Only when I think about yesterday too deeply.”

“Oh, that’s just fine then,” Joey said sarcastically. “Nothing wrong with completely forgetting you saved the world.”

“What now?”

“The _world,_ Red. You saved it from Madeline. You saved every ghost in existence. We are officially on vacation.”

“Are you … making fun of me right now?” she said irritably. Joey was frequently sarcastic but she really wasn’t in the mood to hear jokes about a possible vacation.

“For once, no,” Joey said. He glanced away and Rosangela wondered, incredulously, if he was uncomfortable. Just what had she missed out on?

“You really did, Red,” he said softly. “You had all the knowledge of the universe in your head and you did it. Don’t you remember anything at all?”

As it turned out, she remembered very little. They spent the next hour going over case details, Madeline, and how Rosangela had nearly … died.

Slowly, bits and pieces returned to her and she felt cold at what she recalled. Everything had come so close to being over. She’d nearly found out what was on the other side and she’d been … almost _happy_ about it.

She couldn’t tell Joey that.

“So, what now?” she said instead.

“I have no idea,” Joey admitted. “I mean, spooks will return at one point or another. I think we just need to wait.”

She thought about that for a moment, considered what an actual vacation might be like. “No,” Rosangela said suddenly. “Joey, there’s so much more out there. Why should we settle for helping ghosts when there’s so much more we can do?”

“Come again?” Joey looked at her incredulously. “What else would be helping outside of spooks?”

“I don’t have the knowledge of the universe locked in my head still,” Rosangela said, “but there are … echoes, I suppose. I don’t know _what_ we’d be looking for, exactly, but I know there’s more we could be doing. Don’t you want to know why Madeline was trained as a spirit guide and you weren’t? Don’t you want to see what else could be out there?”

“No!” Joey exclaimed. “I absolutely do not want to know any of that. Red, we came close to learning a lot of things a couple hours ago and it was awful. Maybe ignorance really is bliss.”

“No,” Rosangela said firmly. “We need to be better than this. Whether or not I like it being a medium, a _Bestower,_ is my job and I plan to do it to the best of my ability. These are our people.”

“Spooks are our people,” Joey said faintly, “not whatever you’re talking about. What are you talking about anyway?”

“Let’s find out,” Rosangela said, turning toward the computer mischievously.

“Oh, no, not the … magic box thing.”

“You know it’s called a computer, Joey. I know you know that.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“I think this will be the start of an interesting chapter in our lives,” she said. “Er, so to speak.”

“Yeah, great. I’ll just stay over here while you investigate this new thing.”

“Thanks, Joey.”

“Yeah, yeah…” he huffed. “Just … let’s not do anything too dangerous for a while, okay?”

“Mm,” she said absentmindedly.

“Why me?” he muttered.

As she drew up a site on supernatural phenomena she let out a small grin of victory. Yes, this would be right up their alley.

It was time to get to work.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is labeled as a one shot but it's actually the beginning of a series for Blackwell I hope to continue that would explore just what those "other things" they could be helping (or investigating) might be. I can't promise when the rest will be up--I'm currently working on two ongoing stories for the VnC fandom--but I'm really looking forward to getting it going after the outlining phase is finished. ^^ 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!


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